a.m. good morning, everybody, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. most of you are waking up to cooler conditions. you can feel the difference. >> storm team 4's tom kierein has the difference. >> put the flip-flops away. it has turned chillier. no rain, no snow certainly. it's been certainly way too mild for that. dry pavement starting off, but during the day tomorrow big change moving in. by mid to late morning we'll have rain coming our way. all this area in the green and yellows is coming down a little bit harder. hour by hour. by 11:00 it may pick up a little bit. more moderate to heavy showers move in. then for the afternoon commute tomorrow between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. we'll likely get some of that heaviest rain. then it crosses the bay and moves east. then we'll begin to dry out on thursday evening. next weather and traffic on the 1s, look at hour-by-hour changes. now melissa is looking at a smooth commute. >> i can thank you for dry roads. if you have to take a bunch of

junk for snow and stuff like that, tom, i have to give you credit when it's nice out. part of the road, inner loop and outer loop, everything is rolling along okay. no problems there. the earlier issue in brandy wine that we were talking about before is now out of the way. 66 looks good. so does 95 this morning. don't have any problems there. 270 southbound folks are going more quickly. 72 miles an hour is what's being reported. northbound you're okay. looking downtown here this morning, also rolling along just fine. i'll see you in ten minutes. >> see you then. thanks, melissa. we're hours away from a new d. dot saga. they're looking at certification to carry people. there's still no passengers. today the car will run at 15-minute intervals from 6:00 a.m. until midnight. coming up, news 4's kristen wright will mean what this means if you drive or park along h street. we're following a developing story out in california. two, actually.

l.a. county schools will reopen this morning one day after a threat closed the entire system. a bomb threat prompted the superintendent there to close all the schools on tuesday. that reaction is getting tough criticism out of new york city. that city also received the same anonymous e-mail threat but did not close schools. police commissioner bill bratton said l.a. overreajted to the hoax. bill bratton, the police commissioner of new york, formerly out of l.a. a scary story at chapman universi university. they announced a man walking around campus with a handgun. changes coming today to the national terror threat warning system. the director of homeland security jeh johnson will unveil a new way for the agency to alert the country about terror threats. right now national terror alerts have two levels. an elevated alert means there is a credible terror threat to the country. imminent alert means there is a

credible, specific and impending threat. in baltimore jurors are headed to a third day of deliberations. they may or may not give a verdict today. yesterday the jurors told the judge in this case that they were deadlocked. the judge instructed them to continue deliberating, to try again. we'll send you an alert when a verdict or some other result comes from this trial. 5 oofrmt 03 now. keeping drunk people off montgomery county roads was work this officer enjoyed doing. he died after being hit by a drunk driver. while on the job anything can happen. >> there's no such thing as a routine traffic stop because anything at all can happen. you can be shot, you might have to fight someone who's on drugs.

>> at tonight's checkpoint people will see a picture of officer leota. later today we'll learn more about digs appointing scores on new standardized tests in maryland. park grades came out. 15% of students got scores in math that put them on track for college. state education officials will address parent concerns tonight. they'll do that at capital heights elementary. today virginia governor terry mcauliffe will unveil his plan. he will make a major announcement on k-12 education at mark twain school in alexandrea. he'll boost state aid for undergrads. he will propose $100,000 for sexual assault study. the study will decide whether the state should investigate sexual assaults on college campuses. well, you know, you can

always check in on mei shan and her panda cub. we'll check in on her because we'll get our first face-to-face interaction with bei bei. the media preview. video from panda cam hanging out. we'll let you know as soon as we can get some live feed from the panda cam. the public will be able to see bei bei in january. what the feds are making metro do to address more than 100 safety issues. we're off to a cool start. tom promising a pretty day. what to expect in the next 12 hours. tobacco may do more

the time is 5:08. metro leaders are addressing hundreds of safety issues.

they were told to fix more than 200 issues in the system. according to the washington post some of the issues date back to seven years that haven't been addressed. metro now has 30 days to respond to the directive. it says it's already working on making changes. in congress lawmakers are calling for a different kind of background check on foreigners coming into the country. republicans and democrats in congress say homeland security should check the social media posts of anyone seeking a visa. they say that that move could have prevented the shootings in san bernardino. the woman in the shootings posted allegiance to isis. it is now time for weather and traffic on the 1s. we're talking about a cooldown. i wonder if this is the way it's going to be. >> let's check in with tom kierein forhe answers. approaching 5:11. what happened? springtime in december is gone. quite a chill in the air. starting off early in the morning. by noontime, lows into the 50s.

lighter wind today. peaking in the upper 50s. around 3:00 or so. then just after sunset by 5:00, 6:00, down to the low to mid 50ed and mostly clear sky. you'll need a warm coat this morning and a light jacket during the afternoon. have the sunglasses handy. have lots of sunshine around. quite a chill in the air. we're in the 30s in the shenandoah valley. western fairfax, southern loudo loudoun. much of montgomery county, mid 40s. right by the bay. next weather and traffic on the 1s a look at the big change. cold plunge by the weekend. melissa is looking at a pretty nice commute so far. >> pretty nice commute so far. southbound gw parkway, have a disabled vehicle blocking the right side. we are green this morning. you don't have to worry about any slowdown at least. we'll let you know if that changes. 66 in bound, 67 miles per hour.

95 northbound and southbound rolling along just fine this morning. prince gorges county don't have any big problems there. the earlier issue of brandy wine is out of the way. not something we need to worry about there. top of the beltway just fine. bw parkway just fine. route 1 colesville hitting the beltway. 270 at clarksburg road, northbound and southbound rolling along well as well. i'll see you in ten minutes. melissa, thank you. the next phase of the d.c. street car saga rolls out. in less than an hour. what all drivers need to know so you don't get a ticket. believe it or not, a driver survived this incident. look at that. he's now talking about it including what he didn't do during that w

absolutely i would go to union station, ride the street car. it's a street car. who rides a street car? that's so awesome!

>> some excitement as d.c. gets closer do loading up the h street street cars with passengers. at 6:00 a.m. d dot begins the certification. news 4's kristen wright is live with more on what we're going to see today. good morning, kristen. >> reporter: hey, good morning. right, this is the final step in the long delayed d.c. street car process. in about 45 minutes street cars will be moving along the h street to basically test run, test run the system to make sure the system is safe. it's going to be a weighted service without passengers. starting at 6:00 this morning street cars were run full service hours days and night. free revenue operations as d. dot calls it will go on for at least three weeks, maybe longer. then d. dot says the oversight group will take a close look to make sure service is safe. it is the last step for d. dot

to get the proper safety certification to carry passengers on the street cars. still, no firm date on when that's going to happen. it looks like it could be soon. coming up this morning at 6:00, we'll tell you the exact hours that these test runs will be happening over the next three weeks or longer. back to you. >> thanks, kristin. 5:16. the mother of a 27-year-old man who died at an apartment complex in d.c. wants some answers this morning. alonzo smith was in the custody of private security guards when he died. d.c. police body camera footage released yesterday shows his final moments. now his mother wants to see surveillance video from outside that building. smith's mother says she's upset with the way the guards treated her son. what about the video that was on the outside of the building that was working during the time my son was running through the parking lot saying, help, help, they're trying to kill me? >> smith wants to know why police didn't release the video sooner. the case has been classified as a homicide but tho charges have

been filed. today the department of justice will start an investigation into the chicago police department. this after local leaders in chicago grilled the human relations and public safety committee yesterday about the 2014 police shooting of laquan mcdonald. they will meet with top police officials to report a liaison for help in this investigation. officer jason van dyk is facing charges in mcdonald's death. now to decision 2016. fears of terrorism are dominant in the race for the white house. last night's republican debate in las vegas was the first since the terror attacks in paris and san bernardino, and it was the first since donald trump proposed a ban on muslims entering the u.s. trump defended his stance saying it's about safety, not religion. senator ted cruz had a standout moment as well speaking on national security. the front line with isis isn't just in iraq and syria, it's also in kennedy airport and the rio grand. border security is national

security. >> central question in last night's cnn debate, who would be the best commander in chief. jeb bush called donald trump a chaos candidate not fit for the job. senators cruz and marco rubio disagreed on military spending, nsa surveillance and immigration. democratic front-runner hillary clinton said her republican rivals have slogans, not strategies. she had this message after recent terror attacks in san bernardino and paris. >> we cannot give in to fear. we can't let it stop us from doing what is right and necessary to make us safe. >> clinton says she has steps for capping islamic state recruitment in america, especially online. she told the crowd at the university of minnesota last night the u.s. should be tracking social media posts from visa applicants. 5:18. vermont senator bernie sanders is in d.c. he says he's standing up to anti-muslim rhetoric. he plans to be part of an interfaith roundtable at a moss

nk northwest washington. it is now 5:19. today two big topics on the table in prince william county. the school board will discuss starting classes next fall before labor day. a few weeks ago fairfax county public schools made a decision to start before the holiday. also on tonight's agenda, where to put a new high school. it will be the 13th one the county has added in five years. the county is growing by an average of 800 students every year. there is a serious problem with the water in a town in michigan right now. flint, michigan, has led in its water. the mayor declared a state of emergency in response to this. she's asking for federal and state funding to help keep her town, especially the children, safe. she said the city made a mistake switching to a new water system before a pipe line was complete last year. in news 4 your health now, women who smoke heavily may reach menopause sooner. researchers say after testing 93,000 women, those who smoeblgd

heavily started menopause nearly two years earlier. even non-smoking women exposed to second-hand smoke began about a year earlier. researchers also say smoking is linked to an increased risk of fertility prob skbleems imagine driving down the highway and a metal beam crashes right through your windshield. are you seeing this? a northern california man is really just lucky to be alive today after this actually happened to him. that beam flu off the back of a truck. i've had this fear. you drive behind those logging trucks. >> me, too! >> this thing went through the windshield here. it missed him by a hair. the driver escaped the crash with a few scratches on his arm. >> i would have died. looking at the picture, hard to believe right now. yeah. >> hard to believe. the beam hit the car so hard it cut the engine. the fire department said the driver remained alert behind the wheel and that saved his life. >> i mean, imagine it happened so fast you wouldn't know it was

coming. >> what do you do? you can't swerve. >> part of it is sheer luck. my goodness gracious. he needs to play the lottery, that man. 5:21. live look outside for you this morning. 51 degrees right now. a lot cooler than it was this time yesterday, at least outside our studios. >> let's check in with storm team 4 tom kierein, weather on the 1s. >> the distant moaning of spring weather lovers. you'll need a warm jacket at the bus stop and at the metro this morning. it's going to be hovering around 40 degrees between 7:00 and 8:00. between 8:00 and 9:00, it will be in the mid 40s. there's dry pavement around the region now. sunrise at 7:20 and we'll quickly climb. temperatures by noontime should be in the mid 50s. then hitting upper 50s around 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

right after sunset we'll drop back down into the low 50s and we'll have a partly cloudy sky. then the rain moves in tomorrow. rainfall totals expected. the area in green, half inch to maybe as much as an inch. an inch or more right along 95 and south and east of 95 around the bay by the time this all ends on thursday evening. tomorrow's highs into the mid 50s as that rain does move on through. it's a weather alert day. we'll have heavy rain likely, especially moving in later in the morning through midday and then the afternoon. over an inch of rain is expected parts of the region. then breezy and chilly on friday. temperatures staying in the 40s throughout the day. cold mornings over the weekend. saturday and sunday near freezing both mornings. afternoon highs on saturday just in the mid 40s. we may still have some lingering, blus jtery winds. then we return to 50s for highs. monday, tuesday next week,

chance of few light sprinkles. next weather and traffic on the 1s. melissa, what's happening? >> same problems remain here. gw parkway southbound at spout run have a problem. taking a look at 66, no issues there. 95 again southbound we did have that earlier problem near triangle or northbound, i should say. near triangle. that looks like it is out of the way. beltway at branch avenue moving along fine. 95 in maryland. 32 to the beltway. no problems there. southbound, same thing. northbound not having any issues in the way. all of that earlier road work that was kind of hanging around here and there is no longer hanging around. 270 south a little bit slow out of frederick. it opens up. i'll see you in ten minutes. >> thank you, melissa. 5:23. record snowfall. denver flights are slowly

getting back on track this morning. nearly 500 flights canceled yesterday after close to eight inches of snow hit that region. look at that. hundreds of miles of slippery, wet snow covered highways. they were shut down. wind gusts of nearly 60 miles per hour slammed that metro area. the area will get a break from the snow today as the storm heads into the midwest. an ohio student could be kicked out of school for threatening to kill a muslim student. police say this incident happened on the school bus. the older student blamed the 12-year-old for the collapse of the twin towers and threatened to kill him. the student was arrested and charged with aggravated men nasing and intimidation. council members for the city of greenbelt approved a measure to send letters to the governor. the council wants the governor to change his stance on refugees.

howard county officials have also sent a similar letter to the gov more. former d.v. mayor vincent gray is asking for an apology. former d.c. mayor vincent gray is asking for an apology for prosecutors. a federal probe into his 2010 campaign ended without charges against him. gray believes the investigation cost him his job as mayor though. he is angry that the probe destroyed his political reputation, he says. precutors ended the probe but did not specifically exonerate gray. he will run for the d.c. council, either for an at large or the ward 7 seat he once held. today a potential fiscal policy decision that could affect you. the federal reserve may raise interest rates. here's what you should know about this. your monthly credit card interest rate could jump. if you carry credit card debt, expect to pay more interest over time. on the ore hand, your savings account will pay a little moore

interest. the decision could affect hiring as well and likely slow it down. remember, the fed raises the interest rate when it believes the economy is on the way up. a southwest airlines plane took a nose dive off the runway while taxiing. this happened at national airport last night. you can see the nose of the plane on the ground. passengers and crew made it out safely. investigators are trying to figure out how that accident happened. another investigation is underway in georgia after a small plane landed on the roof of a home. two people were on board the plane when it landed yesterday morning. there's no word whether anyone was in the house. the plane was heading to hilton head when it ran into trouble. no one was hurt. deep inside this hole is where a man was living in virginia. how he managed to survive inside this secret cave and the help he's getting from strangers. a big shakeup in the case of a man accused of killing shochaa levy. rain is in the forecast.

that's in the four things to know coming up at 5:31. breaking news right now. a town house caught on fire in manassas. his report coming up live

we have breaking news this morning out of manassas. three families are without a home this morning after a fire spread through several row houses. news 4's derek ward joining us live from manassas.

derek, what can you tell us? >> yeah, we are on morey lane in manassas. there were three, possibly four townhouses involved in this fire. the good thing to hear first off is that no one was injured. everyone is accounted for. there were a couple of firefighters that went missing briefly. they were located and got out. they were trapped on the second floor. joining me now, a couple of the occupants of these houses when the fire started about 3. ashleigh, you and your friend here, what happened? >> basically i was getting ready to head back to my mom's house and i was leaving. i looked out the window and there was smoke and flames and i immediately called 911 and we both got people out. >> wow. what was it like when you were knocking on doors getting people out? >> well, i got on the roof to look to see if there was any fire. i saw fire before. i wanted to go get -- outside and get on to people's doors and wake them up before it got any worse. i'm just glad i stayed late because if i would have slept, i

would have never woken up. thank god everyone's okay. i'm glad i had the opportunity to save some people. >> reporter: lots of luck and quick thinking on both of your parts. i'm sure people are grateful that you acted quickly and everyone got out okay. there's no word on the cause of this fire yet. it is, indeed, knocked down. they're going to be on the scene for quite a while longer while they determine what caused this fire. we're live in manassas. 5:31. four things to know about your forecast including a weather alert day coming. tom? >> cold out there in manassas where derrick just was. mid to upper 30s. what you're noticing, a cool change. four things to know. weather alert day tomorrow. heavy rain is likely during the day tomorrow. then a cold plunge for the weekend ahead. temperature right now in manassas is only 36 degrees. dulles is at 38. gaithersburg, 39. those are the chilly spots around the immediate metro area.

temperatures hovering around 40. much of prince gorges and fairfax. in the 40s around the bay. out of the mountains it's at below freezing in a few spots there. so kind of back to reality, melissa, this morning. december kind of acting like december. >> i know. starting to get cold. i thought one more day of short sleeves, you know? >> not going to happen. >> not tomorrow. still ahead, southbound gw parkway at spout run, disabled car still blocking the right side. not slowing anything down. this is really the only thing going on right now. fingers crossed hoping it stays this way knowing it's not going to. taking a big look at the beltway inner loop and outer loop. no issues there. taking a look at prince gorges county. everybody behaving themselves. 270 and old hundred moving just fine. eun. 6:32. new this morning, lawmakers agree on a massive spending and tax deal on capitol hill. today you will probably hear both democrats and republicans claiming victory. here are some of the details of the deal that will most likely affect you. the government will not shut

down because of a short-term deal expected to pass today. school spending bill is expected to pass next week. it will shield middle class workers from tax increases. if you have a generous health plan, it will not be taxed. a man responsible for taking down child predators in northern virginia may have been one himself. david abbott killed himself yesterday morning when manassas city police tried to serve warrants at his home. he was accused of molesting two boys that he met while coaching youth hockey in prince william county. detectives are trying to figure out whether abbott had any other victims. you may also remember detective abbott got national attention in a local teen sexting case. police never asked again for explicit photos in this case. abbott sued the teen's defense attorney for defamation. this after she called what he wanted crazy. the teen ended up getting a year of probation. d.c. police are trying to identify children who may have

been victimized by a third grade teacher. cameron lewis was arrested yesterday. he teaches at turner elementary in southeast washington. court documents say he pulled an 8-year-old out of the classroom squeezing his arm so hard that it left a mark. now police want to know whether other children were hurt by lewis. french police are making major strides in finding those involved in two separate terror attacks, three people have been arrested, one is a man who is described as having a peripheral link to last month's attack. a married couple was also arrested in connection with that deadly shooting at a kosher market in january. police believe the couple supplied the weapons to the gunman. you may notice some changes at the loudoun county sheriff's office as loudoun sheriff michael chapman gets ready to be sworn in for his second term in office. several deputies will not be joining him. according to the loudoun times, five deputies have received notices that they will not be resworn as law enforcement officers.

virginia law allows sheriffs to fire deputies at will. there is no word on why the deputies were not rehired. a new development in the chandra levy murder case. they're asking for charges to be dropped against the man who was convicted of killing her. he's getting a second trial based on questionable testimony from key witnesses. prosecutors failed to share crucial information during the first trial and that the murder charges should be dismissed. 5:35 now. in the day ahead, we'll hear more on mayor muriel bowser's plan to keep people safer on d.c. streets. it's called vision zero. the goal is to end all deadly accidents between pedestrians and cyclists by 2024. they plan to provide street safety and better monitoring of hazardous street conditions. they reported 7500 deadly spots. the city will map them out and compare them with past crashes to see if changes need to be made. this morning there is an outpouring of support for a man

arrested after building himself an underground home. this is an update to a story we brought you yesterday morning. police arrested yusey rios after he dug a 12 foot cave in a fairfax county park. inside they found evidence that he was trying to learn english. many felt for the man and one connecticut woman started a go fund me page. >> i felt so badly for this guy. he clearly was, you know, trying his best to take care of himself. just absolutely pulled at my heart strings. >> if you'd like to help, you can find a link in our nbc washington app. the story is on the web page. the go fund me page has raised a little more than $300. in arlington today you can tell metro's new general manager what you think about improving metro. paul wedefeld will be in virginia. the

we'll break down the changes. >> tom's drive time forecast is at 5:41. when he says you can blast the ac today. >>

the centers for medicare and medicaid services recently asked patients to rate the quality of over 3.500 hospitals. fewer than 6% received 5 stars. among them was cancer treatment centers of america in philadelphia. cancercenter.com slash eastern.

if you plan on taking the metro this morning, we have some important information that just came into the newsroom. firefighters now responding to a report of a fire incidents. this is at the bethesda metro station. that's the one right off wisconsin avenue. this according to montgomery fire spokesperson who says that they are responding to a burning, sparking insulator. we checked with metro and they're saying right now this is impacting the ride. red line is single tracking between medical center as well as friendship heights. they are calling this a track

problem. stay with news 4 for an update throughout the show. aaron. new this morning, the u.s. marine corps has approved new hair regulations for female marines. women in uniform can now have their hair in a lock and twist hairstyle. marine corps must keep the hairstyle neat and keep a professional image. the approval to keep the lock and twist came from a female staff sergeant. time for weather and traffic on the 1s. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein here with your forecast. >> good morning. as you're heading out the door and hitting the roads, you'll need the heater on then you might want to blast the a.c. during the afternoon. it will be heating into the 50s. with the windows rolled up and the sun in your car when you get in the car, it will be kind of hot in the car during the afternoon hours. we'll have dry roads for both the morning and afternoon rush hour. right now storm team 4 radar showing no rain anywhere in the vicinity. dry pavement starting off early

this morning. big changes on the way for the weekend. a look at that coming up at 5:51. now melissa is looking at a problem on wisconsin avenue. >> problem now. this is the response to bethesda metro. wisconsin at east-west highway. angie did about the single tracking. we'll keep you updated here in the next couple of minutes to see how it develops. 270 south. a crash is slowing things just a bit this morning. taking a look at travel times from germantown to the beltway, 11 minutes. top of the beltway, 95 over to  270, outer loop will take 90 minutes. on time. 66 in bound, 96 outbound no problems. listen to our friends on wtop 105.3 fm. bush versus trump, cruz versus rubio, they shrugged it out in the final debate before the election year officially beginnings. a breakdown of the winners and losers next. wen

14 before the hour. live pictures coming out of manass manassas, virginia. a large fire. several families out of their home. this happened on morey lane. several townhouses were damaged here. the red cross told us via twitter that it's helping at least 15 people that were displaced in these fires. no word on a cause. news 4's derrick ward is live. reports from him at the top of the hour. and we've got dry pavement now and another day feeling a little bit like spring but turning cooler and then the rain is going to be getting closer to us tomorrow. i've got that hour-by-hour timing coming up for the rest of the day. melissa. we have the issue on the red line trying to wrap this up.

single tracking between medical center and friendship heights. a track problem outside of bethesda. sounds like they had a burnt insulator. we had fire trucks on the scene. it is 5:47. today montgomery police will continue honoring a fallen officer by doing the work that he loved to do. noah leota had a passion for keeping drunk drivers off the road. tonight his department will conduct a dui checkpoint in his honor. the 24-year-old officer died after getting hit by a suspected drunk driver. he was working a dui checkpoint the night he was hit. >> absolutely dedicated to being a good person, compassionate. he would charge somebody but he wouldn't judge that person. >> at tonight's checkpoints drivers will see a picture of the fallen officer. it is meant to serve as a reminder of what happened when someone drives drunk. now to decision 2016. republican hopefuls all trying to make the case that they would

be the best commander in chief. >> this as recent terror attacks in san bernardino and paris dominated the cnn debate in las vegas. nbc's senior political editor is joining us to talk about this. you tweeted last night that really trump, cruz, rubio solidified their positions. >> i think so. there wasn't a really big game changer. this was the last republican debate of 2015. we now start moving into the christmas holiday, new year's eve, new year's day and then all of a sudden there's the four week sprint to the iowa caucuses that you're going to have, the caucuses happening on february 1st. that really said, of it fight night in vegas. i thought there were a lot of good blows. you mentioned the theme was on national security. i noticed four times where ted cruz and marco rubio went after it, whether it was on national security, the issue of immigration. jeb bush mixed it up with donald trump. bush looked stronger than any of the previous debates so far. a lot of blows being thrown. i think you mentioned, there

wasn't really a game-changing performance where donald trump, ted cruz early in the contest, marco rubio is behind him and that's your race. >> did jeb bush do enough to stand out? and how about ben carson who was a contender and he's been falling in the polls. >> he's been falling in the polls. one of the reasons why is because of national security. it isn't his strong suit as we saw last night. he didn't make much of a mark at all. whether jeb bush is able to turn things around, i don't know. he is in the single digits. in fact, low single digits. one poll had him at 3%. he spent more than $35 million on tv ads. his campaign and his super pac hasn't made a dent just yet. again, anything can happen. a lot people around the bush orbit think once you end up getting past christmas, new year's it can be a sprint. >> out of time. thank you for your time. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> thanks, mark.

i'm angie goff at the live desk. as promised, we have an update at the track problem at the bethesda metro. this was firefighters responding to the bethesda metro station just within this hour. a montgomery fire just reporting that no fire, no smoke was found but a burnt insulator was discovered in a tunnel. the situation is under control. now we know this is impacting your early ride. red line single tracking still between medical center and friendship heights. we do, eun, have delays in both directions. >> angie goff from the live desk. thanks, angie. tonight a chance to ask questions after some disappointing scores on new standardized tests in maryland. in prince gorges county only 15% of students received scores in math that put them on track for college. state education officials will address parent concerns tonight. go to capital heights elementary at 6:30 if you'd like to be part of that conversation.

this morning in alexandria, virginia governor will make a major budget announcement. 5:51. quite a bit of a change this morning, tom. >> yeah, december of all things acting like -- >> december, right? >> a winter month. >> imagine that? >> it's cold. you do need to break out the warm coat for the morning and then later this afternoon you'll still need at least a light jacket. you'll need the sunglasses as well. we'll have lots of sunshine. sunrise not until 7:20. at the metro and bus stop you'll be happy you are wearing a warm coat. only hovering around 40 degrees. 8:00 to 9:00, in the mid 40s. still chilly but it will feel nice with the sunshine.

a few high clouds drifting in. wintry cold. southern suburbs in the mid to upper 30s. all above freezing. near 40 around the beltway and inside the beltway. right downtown mid 40s and low 40s on the bay waters. shenandoah valley, a few locations below freezing. holiday gift shopping by 10:00, a lot of the stores will be open. it will be around 50 degrees. noontime, mid 50s. upper 50s for a couple of hours between 1:00 and 3:00 this afternoon. then dropping back down to the mid 50s by after sunset which today is 4:47. post your pictures like this one posted of the sunrise yesterday from strausburg, virginia. then tomorrow, weather alert day on thursday. we'll be in the mid 50s as the rain moves in. weather alert day meaning we'll have frequent storm team 4 updates throughout the day. we could get heavy rain from

time to time especially for the midday and afternoon commute. over an inch of rain is expected by the time it ends on thursday night. then on friday, here comes that cold change. we'll be in the 40s throughout the day with a blustery wind. let's talk about wind chills on friday and saturday maybe a bit of a blustery wind. freezing mornings over the weekend. afternoon highs, mid 40s. sundays highs. back into the 50s with a chance of passing showers. and coming up at 6:01, i've got the new latest hour by hour rain timing for that event on thursday as the rain does move on through hour by hour. that's coming up at 6:01. now melissa, what's going on. still have this problem here single tracking on the red line. again, between medical center and friendship heights. track problem. that arcing insulator found outside bethesda this morning. sounds like things are going to clear here in a minute. taking a live look at wisconsin and the east-west highway, fire crews have left the scene. that is good news.

in bound after north capitol have a brand-new crash there. a couple of other things, 270 south after bucky's pike have an accident slowing things as you're coming out of frederick. edsall road with a brand new water main break. more information and be back in a couple of minutes. i'll see you at 6:01 with more on the red line problem. 5:54. a story people are talking about on our nbc washington facebook page now. hundreds of women are claiming a popular hair product line is making them go bald. a class action lawsuit has been filed against wen hair care and its marketing company gussy ranker. it claims the company did not disclose the product's ingredients can cause significant hair loss. they say there's no science behind the claim. it plans to fight the accusations. good morning, i'm landon dowdy at cnbc headquarters. retailers are feeling the heat, literally, over lost sales of winter clothes as warm weather

hits the country and especially along the east coast. they'll need big discounts to clear the shelves. they say sales of women's boots are down 3% nationwide as are sales of fleece items. with your cnbc business report, i'm lan down dowdy. 5:55. the fire chief in prince gorges county says if there are anymore fights, people will be fired. they broke the story. career and volunteer firefighters were involved in pushing and shoving on the front porch of a house in landon. the fight began with an argument about who was in charge. the video provided by the fire department the chief announced new rules of conduct. >> these actions and behavior are absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. i will not tolerate violence in the workplace in any way, shape, or form. four firefighters were involved in the altercation. they are all on desk duty pending an internal

investigation. happening today, you can attend a meeting about helicopter noise in the skies over arlington. representatives from the faa and the defense department will be at that meeting. it begins at 7:00 p.m. at the central library on north quincy street in arlington joompt it seems a sleigh may be a little sl sornta montgomery county these days. santa will hop on a harley today as part of the annual police department's ride. the ride benefits children's inn at n.i.h. santa and his motor elves will be delivering gifts. you can see him across the county starting in gaithersburg at 9:00. we'll put a list of locations on the nbc washington app. the low price of gas could affect how much you're spending on gifts for your family and friends this year. the national association of convenience stores put out a survey about gas prices and how they affect the economy. in the latest survey 27% of people say that they're planning to spend more money this month. up to 3% increase from last

year. tracking breaking news right now in the city of manassas after an overnight fire damages several townhouses. take a live look at the scene there. you can see firefighters on the scene. the people they help get many of those victims out of their home. plus, a big step forward for d.c.'s street cars this morning. looking at a live picture. one of those cars is about to take off. the action being taken in the next few minutes that could put that delayed line often a path to passenger service. that's as "news 4 today" continues.

who coined the term "side bread?" because there's nothing "side" about this bread. it may look like the moon. but it's the star of the show. unleash the power of dough. give it a pop. that sound. like nails on a chalkboard. but listen to this: (family talking) that's a different kind of sound. the sound of the weekend. unleash the power of dough. give it a pop.

we had a town house fire. we don't know the cause yet. we had 15 occupants displaced at this time. we have the red cross working with them to find alternate living arrangements. >> reporter: the red cross is already on the scene assisting those folks who were displaced here. as the light of day comes they'll investigate to see if they can get the cause of the fire. no one injured. let's get a check on your commute right now. melissa mollet has your first 4 traffic. >> good morning. chopper 4 over bethesda taking a look at what might be happening at the bethesda metro. looks like things have cleared out of the way. still, red line tracking between medical center and friendship heights with the arcing insulator. northbound at the b.w. parkway is blocked. outer loop there at new hampshire avenue.